Question

Situation: HAVE TO WRITE IN MAXIMUM 500 WORDS. Smriti was a managing director in a large company which has more than 500 employees. On 2 July 2020, Smriti received two complaints. The first complaint was internal from a few employees in the sales department and related to extreme pressure being put by supervisors on junior sales employees even in the ongoing COVID-19 situation to complete sales even with unethical means. In the second complaint, an allegation of releasing advertising with incorrect advertising in TV ads was raised against the company by a customer. A copy of the complaint was also sent to the Advertising Standards Council of India. Assignment 1: Based on your understanding and the information and examples discussed in the class, discuss the ethical issues which emerge from pressure to complete sales and how Smriti should resolve the issue so that a similar situation does not emerge in the future. Assignment 2: Explain the principles that the Advertising Standards Council of India will use to evaluate the suitability of the advertisement and how its decision may affect the company, Discuss the ethical values which need to be conveyed to the employees so that similar problems do not emerge in the future,

Answer 1

Some points to consider:

1. Considering that less than ethical practices are being used and employed to sell products in order to complete sales, it is of utmost priority to see to it that this practise does not continue. Not only is it unethical but it also puts the company in a potential precarious positions by having unfair means of operation, that can have deleterious consequences for the future conduct of the company. This can be best handled by Smriti by confronting the superiors with tact and diplomacy in order to not quite provoke, but still get the message across that one needs to ease on the goals amid a certain current atmosphere.
2. The council protects its consumers and is in place to penalize any company that brands or advertises with deceit or wrongful information. This is usually commensurate with the kind of act or deed on the part of company, and although there isn't a very heavy penalizing process, it can taint the reputation of the company for being involved in such a situation. This can have an impact on their consumer base.